


and i say to you (come home)

by lizznotliz



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-11
Updated: 2017-05-11
Packaged: 2018-10-30 15:34:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10879749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizznotliz/pseuds/lizznotliz
Summary: Alex and Kara take care of J'onn, post 2x20 "City of Lost Children."





	and i say to you (come home)

 It's... wrong, seeing Kara carry J'onn.

Not because he's so much bigger than her. Alex has seen her little sister carry trucks and boulders and there was the satellite footage of her raising Fort Rozz into the atmosphere. It's not the cognitive dissonance of seeing Kara carry a much larger person.

It's Kara carrying _J'onn_.

He's still silent and writhing in the mental hell Rhea sent him to. Kara lays him down on one of the beds in the DEO medbay and then yells for everyone else to clear out. Alex can hear the fear in her voice, though there's enough Supergirl steel behind it that she's pretty sure she's the only one. She knows Kara is worried about Mon-El, about Lena, about all the ships that are floating above their heads, but she also knows that Kara's top priority right now - just like hers - is getting J'onn back.

"She took the thingy with her," Kara says as Alex checks his vitals. She has J'onn's hand in a white-knuckle grip and Alex reaches over and smooths her hand over Kara's. "Whatever she used to hurt him like this. I went back and checked; I was going to smash it."

"I know."

"We need to get him back."

"I _know_ , Kara."

"How are we going to--"

"Hey, Kara." There are too many emotions in Kara's eyes right now: Alex spies frustration and fear and helplessness and that blind rage that always gets her into trouble, however understandable it is. Fortunately, Alex knows how to handle Kara. She needs something to do, a specific task, the more focused the better. "Go to Winn's lab, get the headset Max Lord designed to let me enter your consciousness when you were under the Black Mercy."

It takes Kara a moment to let go of J'onn's hand, each finger peeling back slowly as she nods. "Do you need Winn, too?"

"It should be easy enough to modify on the fly. But I can't do anything else to help him until you get me the headset, okay?" Kara's gone before Alex can blink and back a minute later, the headset and all its accompanying cords wrapped up in her arms.

Alex remembers how everything fits together, which cords need to be connected to the electrodes Kara is carefully applying to J'onn's temples and how to properly wear her own headset. Kara puts up a fuss when Alex puts it on - _You've been going through a lot lately, Alex, and you don't know what you're going to see in there_ \- and she knows Kara is just trying to protect her, knows that she just wants to protect everyone, but this isn't the time.

"The headset is already calibrated for me, remember? This is faster. And I trust you to pull me out if things get weird." She trusts Kara more than Maggie or Winn or James on this, because she knows Kara will pull her out, but she also knows Kara will wait until the very last moment if there's a chance of pulling J'onn out, too. The others would jump in too soon; Kara will give her the time she needs to save their father.

Kara leans forward and kisses her gently on the forehead before taking the headset from Alex's hands and carefully pulling it down over her eyes. "Tell him we love him," she whispers and then flicks the switch.

Alex blinks and the sky is red, the ground is red, everything is burning and the air is hot and stale and coppery. There are fences and screaming and Alex finds him immediately.

J'onn, struggling against three white Martians.

They're holding him back and she follows his eyeline to see two smaller green Martians being pulled in the other direction. There is a female lying at their feet, still and silent. The children are weeping. J'onn is raging.

And then the children stop crying. And J'onn stops fighting.

Alex surges forward, unafraid. She doesn't know if whatever technology Rhea is using has the same rules of engagement as the Black Mercy; she doesn't know if J'onn's memories can see her, or hurt her, here in his mind. But right now it doesn't matter because all that matters is getting to J'onn.

"J'onn!" She shouts. " _J'onn!_ " Alex slides to a stop in front of him, red gravel biting into her knees, and she cups her hands around his cheeks. "Hey, hey look at me. Don't look at them. Look at me, J'onn." Everything around them has frozen: the guards and the flames and the falling bodies. Everything is still, but she can see J'onn's breath stuttering in his chest, the tears welling in his eyes as she pleads with him. "Please, _please_ , look at me. I'm here. I'm right here with you, okay?"

"K'hym," he chokes. He opens his mouth again but he can't even say T'ania's name.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I can't even-- but it's... it's been years, J'onn. You're not here. I know you're never going to get over it, but you get past it. I know you do. You come to Earth, remember? You go to Earth and you live and you have me." Alex dredges up a smile; it's brittle around the edges but she holds onto it, leaning into J'onn's eyeline and trying to block him from seeing his daughters' bodies. "Do you remember me? It's Alex. You have Alex and Kara on Earth. You adopted us."

J'onn blinks, and his eyes slide over to Alex for a few seconds. He is numb and devastated, but he is listening.

"You adopted me and Kara and it's not the same, it's never going to be the same, but it's still good. It's still a good thing. This family we created. 'Cause Kara lost her parents and I lost my dad and you lost your girls but we found each other. Do you remember what you were doing before you came here?" Alex takes a deep breath, recalling what she heard over the comms before Rhea dropped him. "You were helping Kara fight and she got knocked down. Do you remember what you said? You said _'You don't mess with my family.'_ You still have family, J'onn."

His voice is hoarse and filled with pain. "I failed my family."

" _No_ ," Alex insists. "No, you didn't. You didn't fail K'hym and T'ania, and you haven't failed Kara or me. You saved us, J'onn. You've saved me and Kara so many times and so we came to save you. We just... we wanted to remind you... I..."

Alex darts forward and throws her arms around his shoulders. J'onn's arms are still pulled back by the frozen white Martians, his back arched and straining against their hold. But Alex buries her face in his neck and hugs him, palming the back of his head like she does to Kara sometimes when she knows she can't hold her as tight as she'd like. "We love you," Alex whispers against his collar. "Kara and I love you and we need you to come home. We can't make this better - what happened in the past, this right here - but we can make the present a little less painful. But you have to come home. Please come home. We need you back with us."

Alex blinks again and she's in the medbay on a cot beside J'onn's. Kara is between them, holding their hands. Alex can feel the bones in her hand grinding together, Kara's holding on so tight, but she rips off the headset and rolls toward the edge of the bed. The shock of coming back so quickly feels like a gutpunch; she can still smell blood and smoke in the air.

"Whoa, steady, careful," Kara cautions, grabbing Alex's elbow before her legs give out.

"Too fast. I- I didn't pull us out. I didn't-- did you?" Kara shakes her head, face ashen with fear, but then they're both looking toward J'onn, both crowding at the edge of his bed. "Hey, you wouldn't send me back alone," Alex says fiercely, grabbing his hand and squeezing. "Come back, c'mon."

And the twitching in his limbs begins to slow and the wrinkles on his forehead smooth out and he starts taking deeper breaths. Kara leans her head against Alex's shoulder and giggles anxiously when J'onn transforms back into Hank's skin. He opens his eyes and blinks at the ceiling a few times before he whispers.

"Girls?"

"We're here," Kara says hurriedly. "Hi."

"We're right here," Alex assures him.

He squeezes her hand: "My girls."


End file.
